Two men accused of making false representation to health ministry granted bail

This article is more than 12 months old

Jan 31, 2022 11:16 am

General practitioner Jipson Quah, 33, who is accused of making false representation to the Ministry of Health (MOH) over fake Covid-19 vaccination information, was granted bail of $20,000 on Monday (Jan 31).

Thomas Chua Cheng Soon, 40, the doctor's assistant, who faces a similar charge, was granted bail of $15,000.

As part of the bail conditions, the two men are not allowed to speak to the prosecution witnesses and the co-accused.

For Quah, the witnesses include staff of the clinic where he works.

Judge Terence Tay said: "He may communicate with the staff of the clinics which the accused owns and manages. Such communication to be confined to work matters only and the accused is not to discuss any aspects of the case with them."

Last Tuesday (Jan 25), Quah had his cheating charge amended to a more serious offence - dishonestly making false representation to the health ministry.

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Chua's charge was similarly amended on Friday.

If convicted of the charge, each of them can be jailed for up to 20 years and fined.

They will next appear in court on March 14.

Quah, Chua and founder of anti-vaccine group Healing the Divide Iris Koh Shu Cii, 46, were earlier charged in court with one count of cheating each.

Koh's cheating charge has also been amended to the more serious offence of dishonestly making a false representation to MOH.

All three alleged offenders are Singaporeans.

In a statement on Jan 23, the police said that preliminary investigations revealed that the two men had allegedly worked together to submit false vaccination data.

Koh is believed to have referred clients to them.

MOH had earlier said that it will be issuing notices of suspension to the four clinics that Quah owns or is clinic manager of, as well as revoking their approvals to conduct rapid tests for Covid-19.

They are Wan Medical Clinic in Bedok, Mayfair Medical Clinic in Woodlands, Mayfair Medical Clinic (Chong Pang) in Yishun, and Ong Clinic & Surgery, also in Yishun.

Quah had also been working part-time as a laboratory director at the Diagnostics Development Hub's (DxD's) clinical diagnostics laboratory.

DxD, which is funded by the National Research Foundation and led by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, has since suspended him.